College Freshmen

College freshmen from the 2005-06 academic year showed record increases in valuing social and civic responsibility, according to the results of an annual poll by the University of California, Los Angeles.

The annual poll—which surveyed 263,710 entering freshmen nationwide—found that 66.3 percent believe it is “essential or very important” to help others who are in difficulty, the highest response in 25 years. Moreover, an all-time high of 83.2 percent reported volunteering at least occasionally while in their senior year of high school, and 67.3 percent believe there is a good or some chance they will continue to volunteer in college, also an all-time high.